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Laptops Process
General Process 'Pulling Off Specs' Use the green USB stick to run Speccy from the HBCD menu. If this doesn't work for any reason, you can install the program program by running the 'installspeccy' file on the USB stick. The specs you need are: Model Number - full number, usually found on the bottom of the laptop. Operating System - Include type, version, service pack, bit ie Windows 7, Home Premium, SP1, 64-Bit. Processor Model - Include full make & model and speed ie Intel Core i5-2540M 2.6GHz. RAM - Include size, type and specs ie 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Hard Drive - Include make and size ie Western Digital 250GB HDD Optical Drive - Usually DVDRW or just DVD is all that's needed. Condition - Either A or B, as long as there is no damage or substantial marks/stains, A is fine. 'Testing' Once the price has been OK'd with the custy you can start testing immediately. Formatting: First thing to do with laptops is to restore them back to factory settings. The method varies with each model, so try the steps in this order; #Go to start menu, some models have programs installed to Windows to perform a factory restore. This will usually be listed on the start menu under the manufacturer name such as 'Start > HP > HP Recovery Centre'. If you find a program like this, run it and it will take you through the factory restore process. #If the laptop doesn't have an option like this, restart the machine. As the laptop begins to boot, tap F8 until a full screen menu appears. The option you need to select here is 'Repair Your Computer'. If this option exsits, it will be at the top of the list. Once you select this, it will take you to the repair menu where there should be an option to restore to factory restore. This is usually labelled with the manufacturer's brand such as Dell DataSafe. #The last possibility, which is rare on newer machines, is that the laptop may use a recovery partition. If all else fails, go to Control Panel > Computer Management > Disk Management. Check if there is a partition labelled (Recovery) if there is, right click and select 'Mark as Active'. Most laptops will have 1 or 2 partitions already, not including a recovery one, these will have drive letters such as C: or D:, do not tocuh these. Once you have done this, restart the laptop and it should take you to the Factory Restore options. Things to Remember: *Do not reformat the machine by just right-clicking the hard drive selecting 'format', this will wipe it and kill the laptop! Restore Methods for Specific Models 'HP' Pavilion Dv6: Restart > F8 > Repair Your Computer > Recovery Manager > No to launch Microsoft recovery > Yes on next screen > Recover without backing up. 'Samsung' NP-N145: 'Start > Samsung > Samsung Recovery Solution > Restore > Complete Restore > Computer Initial Status > OK (reboots and goes through Recovery process) 'Lenovo 'Dell' Inspiron Mini: Required restart > F8 > Dell DataSafe Factory Image (don't preserve files and programs). 'Apple' 'Acer' Aspire One Happy: Start > Acer eRecovery Management > Completely Restore System to Factory Defaults (reboots and goes through restore process) Testing the Hard Drive Once the laptop has finished restoring, the first thing to do is error check the Hard Drive. To do this, once the laptop has restarted, go to My Computer, right click the main hard drive (usually C:/) and click properties. There is a tab on here named Tools, select this and use the error checking tool. Check both the boxes on the window that pops up and click OK. As you are checking the hard drive which windows is stored on, you will need to restart the laptop and the process will automatically start. This can take a while and depends on the size of the hard drive and if there are any errors which need fixing. When the hard drive is being checked, you MUST 'leave the laptop plugged in and switched on or it could kill the hard drive. 'Test All Ports Once the error checking has finished, you can carry out the functionality tests. First, test that all the ports on the laptop. The ports that you will generally find are; *USB - Test by inserting the green test USB stick. As long as the memory stick is recognised when plugged into each port and either a menu or the folder appears then the port is working. The first time you plug the USB stick into one of the ports, it may take a few seconds to install the necessary drivers, if this fails, unplug the memory stick and re-insert it and it should try again. *VGA - The blue port which can be used to connect an external monitor, test by using the test PC monitor to plug in and as long as a picture is displayed, the port is working. *Ethernet - Use the second ethernet cable under the test PC bench to check that the wired network port on the laptop works. You might need to disable the wireless connection to do this (use the control panel from the icon in the start menu tray. *HDMI - Same as VGE, use a HDMI cable and TV to test that the laptop outputs a picture. *eSata - Not very common (see here for what to look for ). We don't usually have the hardware to test a eSata Port and they are not commonly used so aren't too important. Do a wuick visual inspection to check for physical damage. *Headphone and Microphone - Use a a headset when testing video and sound to check these ports.